Fresh row over UN role in Iraq

France and Germany yesterday warned Britain and the US that Washington's draft United Nations resolution on Iraq does not yet give the UN enough of a role to allow them to accept it.

As Whitehall confirmed a review of British troop levels in Iraq after recent attacks, the caution shown by Paris and Berlin contrasted with the upbeat tone expressed by Tony Blair. He predicted that critics and supporters of the war - including France and Germany - would rally because they had a common interest in seeing a stable and prosperous Iraq.

President Jacques Chirac gave no sign of hurrying to meet Mr Blair's expectations. "We are ready to examine the proposals, but they seem quite far from what appears to us the primary objective, namely the transfer of political responsibility to an Iraqi government as soon as possible," he said after talks in Dresden with the German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder.

Mr Schröder said the draft resolution showed "some movement" from the Bush administration in calling on the international community for more help in Iraq and offering the UN a larger role in the country's security, political transition and reconstruction. But it did not go far enough.

"I agree with the president when he says 'not dynamic enough, not sufficient'," he said, adding that both countries, while wanting to help restore peace and stability to Iraq, were adamant that the UN must take control of the political process.

In Washington's draft the US would not give up political or military control. Although Paris is keen not to appear obstructive after last February's row at the UN, that insistence is a major stumbling block.

"Now is the time to look forward, and that can only happen if the UN can take responsibility for the political process," Mr Schröder said. Both leaders predicted that an eventual UN security council vote on the resolution was still some way off.

British diplomatic sources were not despondent at the initial Franco-German rejection of the UN draft. France was bound to seek a high price for involvement, Whitehall admitted. The French will be willing to contribute to a UN-mandated force under US control if a clear route map exists to Iraqi control after democratic elections.

But coming from two of the most ardent opponents of the war in Iraq - one of them, France, a veto-holding permanent member of the council - yesterday's opening skirmish is an early blow to the Bush administration's bid to get more countries to contribute troops and money to its occupation.

Mr Chirac last week urged the US to move "without delay" to transfer full political power to the Iraqi people under the mandate of the UN. And at his monthly press conference yes terday Mr Blair seemed to echo that emphasis - as he stressed the growing role of the Iraqi governing council.

He accused "a small number of Saddam's supporters and an increasing number of outside terrorist groups" of acting to undermine the prospect of a "stable, prosperous and democratic" Iraq.

"They know such a country reborn would spell an end to their hopes of persuading the Arab world down the path of extremism," said Mr Blair.

Mr Blair's evident reluctance to commit more British troops to Iraq came as the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, announced a review of the British presence in south-east Iraq, currently 11,000 troops. The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, called for 5,000 more troops.

Mr Straw's plea for reinforcements came as the top US commander in Iraq, Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez, and the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, called for additional international forces of around 15,000 troops.

Mr Straw has warned in a leaked memo that security had to be improved in Iraq by Ramadan or else the US-UK coalition risks "strategic failure" in Iraq.